Posts Tagged ‘Alpha Core Trilogy’

Content warnings: heterosexual relationships, violence, PTSD, mentions of the forced augmentation that was done in the previous book, sex

I received a free ARC from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a continuation of Edge of Darkness. This is more Sierra’s story. And it was so enjoyable. It showed more her internal struggles regarding the augmentation and her feelings. In addition to everything else going on in the world that she is dealing with. The first book, had a lot of background and set up and this one picked up where that one left off with the action.

I appreciate that the author, when sending me the file, gave me the heads up that there were the content warnings for this book. It helped a lot. Both in my ability to read the book and my ability to enjoy the book. The book still reminds me a lot of Deus Ex with the augmentation. And I don’t think the trilogy will ever stop reminding me of it. But it’s not a bad thing. It’s just what it is because I play video games as well as read books as well as have a lot of book reading and video game playing friends. I do like that the books don’t appear to suffer (yet, at least) from Trinity Syndrome with her (which is a problem I’ve seen more times than I care to count in SFF though usually when it’s written by male writers). And yes, she’s flawed but she’s flawed in the same human way that most humans are. In that we have emotions and sometimes emotions can rule us (and for that matter, Calder has his moments where his emotions rule him as well).

Overall, enjoyable book and I’m looking forward to the third book that I hope ties everything up. If you enjoyed the first book, definitely pick this one up.

This book was hard for me. Very hard for a few reasons. One of them being the abuse part. Actually the biggest one is the abuse part. Been there. Done that. PTSD as a consolation prize. And this book just emotionally wrecked me because of that and the rest of the stuff in the book.

This book reminds me a lot of Deus Ex: Icarus Effect/Human Revolution (as one of my best friends pointed out when I was telling him about it…and by reminds me I mean reminds me of listening to him talk about playing it because it’s not my kind of game overall). And that’s not a bad thing. Heck, if it influenced the book at all, I think that’s fucking awesome. But I’m also a huge geek/nerd and love references to other things in books.

The author does very well with writing. Especially with writing the male lead and how he views women (though, to be honest, as a generality it’s not that hard to do…..unless you want to be convincing then it is) that he has no emotional connection to. And despite my dislike for those parts, I found myself really emphasising with him.

I also enjoy the dystopian United States setting. And Jimmy. I LOVE Jimmy and want to see more of him. I also adore how Sierra first describes Gage. I now think of him as bulldog. And seriously (this is nothing to do with the author’s writing moreso to do with my fucked up brain, but every time I read a character described as bulldog looking my brain instantly pictures them as human with a bulldog’s head. Even though I KNOW that’s not what the author generally means it still happens and I still laugh a lot). And I loved Jimmy’s quip about knowing what he was going into and not expecting to bake cookies as a member of the military. I burst out laughing and shared with my best friend. And he started laughing too.

This is definitely a book that I will be purchasing in the future. And will be eagerly anticipating the next book in the trilogy. This book is definitely not for the techphobic types out there (particularly those who use technology because they have to not because they want to) or the people who don’t deal well with reading about abusive relationships. Or really if anything I’ve listed in the content warnings is something you can’t deal with. It’s a good book but not worth negative effects physically, emotionally, or mentally. That said, I don’t regret reading this (even though with what I said in my last sentence applies to me and the fact that negativeness did happen and I’m dealing with it but it’s something I know is bound to happen as a reviewer).